St. Paul Pioneer Press (MN) - January 26, 2007
Antique Decoys Worth Their Weight in Gold
Investors are Stalking the Nation's Top Auction Houses in Hopes of Making a Killing.
By Chris Niskanen
Looking to feather your retirement nest? Try scouring the attic for grandpa's old duck decoys. A pair of Minnesota-made duck decoys fetched $90,000 at a Christie's New York auction last week, though the carver's name remains a mystery.
The wooden pintail hens, made around 1900, were a nifty investment for the Michigan antique dealer who sold them. He paid $25 for them during a Minnesota buying trip in 1972. The same auction also produced the world-record price for a waterfowl decoy: A bidder paid $856,000 for a rare 19th-century red-breasted merganser made by Massachusetts carver Lothrop Holmes.
In today's investment world, duck decoys are the new junk bonds. A handful of wealthy investors are stalking the nation's top auction houses like hungry foxes, hoping to make a killing on folksy wooden plovers, ducks and geese.
And prices are skyrocketing.
"What we've got is a dozen or 15 new collectors who make hundreds of millions of dollars a year," said Gary Guyette, co-owner of the world's largest decoy auction house, Guyette & Schmidt, in Maryland. "If you have a $30,000 decoy and they like it, they might pay $130,000 for it." Guyette teamed with Christie's last Friday to auction 50 antique decoys, including the Minnesota pintails. Guyette wouldn't name the pintails' seller and highest bidder, but he revealed the Michigan seller kept them in a cupboard for decades.
"I told him they'd be worth at least $20,000," Guyette said, "but certainly not $90,000." That's not even a record auction price for a Minnesota-made antique decoy. In 2005, Guyette's auction house sold a snow-goose decoy made by John Tax of Osakis for $100,625. The same decoy sold in 2000 for $66,000. "The market's been crazy like that," Guyette said.
Tax, who lived from 1894 to 1967, sold his carved decoys for $2 to $6. "He's considered one of our premier carvers, no doubt," said collector Doug Lodermeier of Minneapolis, who is writing a book on Minnesota decoy carvers. "He made a lot of different birds, ducks and geese, and stuff for the tourist trade."
Because of their link to a bygone era and folk designs, waterfowl decoys have long attracted collectors. Dick Brust, of St. Paul, helped found the Minnesota Decoy Collectors Association in 1966. "We only have so many of the old ones left," Brust said, explaining the allure of old decoys. "When the market slows for certain type of antiques, it still remains strong for decoys." The Minnesota Decoy Collectors Association holds its annual sale and auction beginning Wednesday in Bloomington. While the trickle-down effect on prices may not be seen next week, the Christie's auction will surely raise future prices for all Minnesota-made antique decoys, collectors say.
"When you see record prices being set for decoys, all decoys ride on their coattails, " Lodermeier said. Lodermeier, however, was mystified by the pintails sold in New York. He and fellow collector John Bandholzer of Fridley studied pictures of them Thursday and couldn't identify the carver. "We've never seen them before in our lives," Lodermeier said. "John thinks they might even be Eastern birds or from the Canadian Maritimes. They may not be from Minnesota."
That apparently didn't matter to the buyer.
"It was the fourth item in the auction," Guyette said. "By that time, things were going pretty good." Most Minnesota antique decoys will sell for far less at next week's show in Bloomington, but Lodermeier encouraged people to look in their attics and basements for old decoys. "There are still a lot of treasures out there," he said. "I still hear about people pulling old stuff like that out of drawers and rafters."
Antique Decoys Worth Their Weight in Gold
Investors are Stalking the Nation's Top Auction Houses in Hopes of Making a Killing.
By Chris Niskanen
Looking to feather your retirement nest? Try scouring the attic for grandpa's old duck decoys. A pair of Minnesota-made duck decoys fetched $90,000 at a Christie's New York auction last week, though the carver's name remains a mystery.
The wooden pintail hens, made around 1900, were a nifty investment for the Michigan antique dealer who sold them. He paid $25 for them during a Minnesota buying trip in 1972. The same auction also produced the world-record price for a waterfowl decoy: A bidder paid $856,000 for a rare 19th-century red-breasted merganser made by Massachusetts carver Lothrop Holmes.
In today's investment world, duck decoys are the new junk bonds. A handful of wealthy investors are stalking the nation's top auction houses like hungry foxes, hoping to make a killing on folksy wooden plovers, ducks and geese.
And prices are skyrocketing.
"What we've got is a dozen or 15 new collectors who make hundreds of millions of dollars a year," said Gary Guyette, co-owner of the world's largest decoy auction house, Guyette & Schmidt, in Maryland. "If you have a $30,000 decoy and they like it, they might pay $130,000 for it." Guyette teamed with Christie's last Friday to auction 50 antique decoys, including the Minnesota pintails. Guyette wouldn't name the pintails' seller and highest bidder, but he revealed the Michigan seller kept them in a cupboard for decades.
"I told him they'd be worth at least $20,000," Guyette said, "but certainly not $90,000." That's not even a record auction price for a Minnesota-made antique decoy. In 2005, Guyette's auction house sold a snow-goose decoy made by John Tax of Osakis for $100,625. The same decoy sold in 2000 for $66,000. "The market's been crazy like that," Guyette said.
Tax, who lived from 1894 to 1967, sold his carved decoys for $2 to $6. "He's considered one of our premier carvers, no doubt," said collector Doug Lodermeier of Minneapolis, who is writing a book on Minnesota decoy carvers. "He made a lot of different birds, ducks and geese, and stuff for the tourist trade."
Because of their link to a bygone era and folk designs, waterfowl decoys have long attracted collectors. Dick Brust, of St. Paul, helped found the Minnesota Decoy Collectors Association in 1966. "We only have so many of the old ones left," Brust said, explaining the allure of old decoys. "When the market slows for certain type of antiques, it still remains strong for decoys." The Minnesota Decoy Collectors Association holds its annual sale and auction beginning Wednesday in Bloomington. While the trickle-down effect on prices may not be seen next week, the Christie's auction will surely raise future prices for all Minnesota-made antique decoys, collectors say.
"When you see record prices being set for decoys, all decoys ride on their coattails, " Lodermeier said. Lodermeier, however, was mystified by the pintails sold in New York. He and fellow collector John Bandholzer of Fridley studied pictures of them Thursday and couldn't identify the carver. "We've never seen them before in our lives," Lodermeier said. "John thinks they might even be Eastern birds or from the Canadian Maritimes. They may not be from Minnesota."
That apparently didn't matter to the buyer.
"It was the fourth item in the auction," Guyette said. "By that time, things were going pretty good." Most Minnesota antique decoys will sell for far less at next week's show in Bloomington, but Lodermeier encouraged people to look in their attics and basements for old decoys. "There are still a lot of treasures out there," he said. "I still hear about people pulling old stuff like that out of drawers and rafters."
